10 Times WWE Threw Money Down The Drain

2. The Fall Of Punk

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WWE

As soon as CM Punk cut his "pipe bomb" promo on Raw, he became the hottest star in wrestling. In the weeks that followed - the so-called "Summer of Punk" - he got a shot at the WWE World Championship, threatened to win the belt and leave the company, and even dressed down Vince McMahon in a famous TV segment. Fans knew that the whole thing was a work, but Punk was so damned convincing - and the company was going along with it so well - that it looked like he could become the next Steve Austin.

At Money in the Bank, Punk beat Cena for the title in a near-perfect match, then escaped with the belt, blowing Vince McMahon a goodbye kiss as the Chicago crowd went nuts. The whole thing couldn't possibly have been handled any better.

Without a champion, the company decided to have a tournament for the belt. Eight days after Money in the Bank, Rey Mysterio won the tournament, but lost the belt to John Cena later in the evening (don't ask). Then, after just over a week out of the company, CM Punk returned, facing off with Cena.

During his absence, Punk actually made appearances at comic conventions and independent shows, drumming up interest in the storyline. Once he came back, though, it was business as usual, and the most interesting part of the whole angle could no longer be milked. Punk and Cena soon had a match to unify their belts, and while Punk won, he lost the title to Alberto Del Rio and then, inexplicably, lost a match to Triple H, whose full-time career had ended. When it was all said and done, Punk was just another popular star.

There's no telling why WWE brought Punk back so quickly (though the Triple H thing is a bit more obvious), but it was most likely just impatience and creative ineptitude.

Contributor
Contributor

Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried. *Best Crowd of the Year, 2013